Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a staggering Category 5 storm, the strongest to strike the island nation in the 174 years humans have been keeping records.
While the full scale of the damage is still being assessed, preliminary reports suggest the storm caused catastrophic flooding on parts of the island, inundating roads and bridges and causing widespread damage to homes, hospitals and other buildings and infrastructure. Officials reported that three people in Jamaica had died during hurricane preparations before the storm made landfall, and as of Tuesday night it was still unclear how many additional deaths had occurred in its aftermath.
As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, at least 530,000 people were without power, said Desmond McKenzie, Jamaica’s minister of local government, at a press briefing. Around 15,000 people remained in shelters across the island, he said, adding that the shelters would remain open “as long as it is necessary.”
Several hospitals sustained serious damage from winds or floodwaters, including the Black River hospital in the parish of St. Elizabeth, where at least 75 patients were evacuated, according to McKenzie.
